Geoffrey Bayldon (born 7 January 1924 in Leeds, Yorkshire) is a British actor. After playing roles in dramas of Shakespeare, he became famous with the role of Catweazle in the early 1970s, after turning down the opportunity to play the first doctor in Doctor Who. Bayldon's other long-running parts include the Crowman in Worzel Gummidge and Magic Grandad in the BBC School's Television series Watch.
Bayldon made several film appearances in the 1960s and 1970s, including King Rat (1965), To Sir With Love (1967) Casino Royale (1967), the Envy segment of The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins (1971) and the film version of the television series Porridge (1979).
Among his more recent television appearances was the Five game show Fort Boyard.
He also had a guest appearance in the long-running BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who as Organon in The Creature from the Pit. More recently, he has also performed in two audio plays based on the Doctor Who television series by Big Finish Productions in the Doctor Who Unbound series: Auld Mortality and A Storm of Angels.
Other television roles include parts in the dramatisation of Blott on the Landscape; and in an episode of The Avengers and of Star Cops. He was in an episode of Tales of the Unexpected "Down among the sheltering palms." He has also appeared in a number of BBC Schools programmes http://www.tv-ark.org.uk/schools/bbcschoolsprogrammes70s.html, where he has displayed a number of otherwise unexploited talents (such as singing).
Born Leeds, England and trained at Old Vic Theatre School, 1947-1949. First stage appearance in "Tough at the Top" (C.B. Cochran's last musical) in 1949, followed by seasons at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon; Glasgow Citizen's and Birmingham Repertory Theatre. First in London's west end in "The Happy Time" (1952) and more recently in "Worzel Gummidge", "A Month of Sundays" "Maria" and "Unfinished Business". Overseas: played Caesar in "Caesar and Cleopatra" (International Festival, Paris, 1956); Ravinia Shakespeare Festival (Chicago, 1964); Pickering in "My Fair Lady" (Houston, 1991). In 1998 he was nominated as "Best Actor" for the Royal Midland Television Awards for his role as Alby James in an episode of "Peak Practice" (1993).
